Declare War on Police Brutality

EUCLID, Ohio- A suburban Cleveland police department is once again under fire. Just like before, the whole incident is captured on video. The Euclid Police Department is facing another complaint of excessive force against a driver.

Thursday, attorneys with Friedman and Gilbert filed an 18-page federal civil rights action against the Euclid Police Department and two of its officers.

The suit claims the officers violated 36-year-old Lamar Wright’s constitutional rights, and that the department’s policies and practices give officers the authority to do so.

“Get over here. Get over here…shut the car off!” officers are heard yelling in body cam video released by Wright’s attorneys.

The video stems from an incident on East 212th Street on November 4, 2016.

“Let me see your hands!” an officer is heard saying.

“You’re hurting my arm. I got a ‘what’s its name’ on…” before the sound of taser is heard.

“Once I seen that they were running up on the car, I thought it was some guys that was like trying to carjack me or something, so I threw the car in reverse; once I found out they was officers, I put the car in park,” said plaintiff, Lamar Wright.

The body cam video does not show what led up to the moment, but Wright says he had pulled into a driveway to use his cellphone. He also says he had just had surgery.

“They was yelling. One came to my driver’s side; they was yanking on the door. I unlocked the car, then they tased me, maced me, slammed me to the ground,” said Wright.

“He complied with the orders they gave him. He had his hands up the moment they arrived at the vehicle. When they opened the door, they told him to turn off the car; he immediately turned off the vehicle,” said one of Wright’s attorneys, Jacqueline Greene.

Thursday’s suit was filed about a month after a Euclid officer was fired after a violent arrest that went viral earlier this year.

“Dude, I thought he had a gun…why the (expletive) are you reaching like that?” the officer says. The other officer is heard agreeing and says, “He started reaching.”

One of the officers in the Lamar Wright video could repeatedly be heard saying he feared he was reaching for something.

About author

Filming Cops was started in 2010 as a conglomerative blogging service documenting police abuse. The aim isn’t to demonize the natural concept of security provision as such, but to highlight specific cases of State-monopolized police brutality that are otherwise ignored by traditional media outlets.